Thornback

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any animal with a thorny back, especially marine animals, such as:; The thornback guitarfish (Platyrhinoidis triseriata), a species of ray in the north-eastern Pacific Ocean.
  2. 2
    Any animal with a thorny back, especially marine animals, such as:; The thornback ray or thornback skate (Raja clavata), a species of ray in the Atlantic Ocean.
  3. 3
    Any animal with a thorny back, especially marine animals, such as:; The thornback skate (Dentiraja lemprieri), a fish endemic to Australia.
  4. 4
    A woman over a certain age (variously 26 or 30) who has never married, older than a spinster. archaic

    "[A] society of honest gentlemen [is holding a lottery] for the benefit of all single ladies, widows, maids, or thornbacks […]"

Example

More examples

"[A] society of honest gentlemen [is holding a lottery] for the benefit of all single ladies, widows, maids, or thornbacks […]"

Etymology

From Middle English thornbak; equivalent to thorn + back.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.